The FAO Representation in Côte d'Ivoire in partnership with the Ivorian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will host this annual event which will have the theme "Resilient agri-food systems and building back better".
Over three days, FAO Representations will join sub-regional economic integration organizations and development partners to chart the way out of the current deterioration in food security situation in West Africa and the Sahel.
The 12th Multidisciplinary Team Meeting for West Africa will also look at the impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition, and on ways to build more resilient food systems.
West Africa and the Sahel are a region where challenges and opportunities are constantly being renewed. By 2020, the sub-region had nearly 410 million inhabitants, with a median age of 18. Conflict, climate change, water scarcity, floods and droughts, soil degradation, unemployment, especially among young people and women, and people with disabilities, cross-border diseases and locusts continue to hamper governments' efforts to achieve their development goals, including commitments to advance the 2030 sustainable development agenda and “leave no one behind”.
West Africa and the Sahel constitute a region where challenges and opportunities are constantly renewed. In 2020, the sub-region had nearly 410 million inhabitants, with a median age of 18 years. Conflict, climate change, water scarcity, floods and droughts, land degradation, unemployment, especially among young people and women, and people with disabilities, cross-border diseases and pests continue to increase. 'Hamper efforts by governments to meet their development goals, including commitments to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and leaving no one behind.
The meeting will have two main components: the first, a retrospective, will address the achievements and challenges of 2020; the second component, a forward-looking vision, will look at planning and emerging issues for 2021.
